Dear Future COFES Intern;
COFES provides an exceptional opportunity for a student or young professional interested in the future of engineering software, and is unlike any other commercial or academic conference you'll attend. Here are a few reasons why:
COFES attracts the best and the brightest.
You will meet engineers, designers, and business people with deep knowledge of the engineering software industry. These are the top people. Not only do they make the software, but they make the business decisions that set the direction of the industry.
COFES is about personal interaction, not sales and marketing.
The conference is organized so that you get to spend as much one-on-one time with other experts in the field as possible. The conversations are all about sharing knowledge – you won't find any marketing pitches here.
COFES is dynamic.
Don't expect a collection of canned presentations! When you put twenty smart people in a room together, things go where they want to go. The dynamic of conversations is deeply engaging.
Volunteering as a conference intern provided me with the opportunity to connect with industry experts right away. Even before the conference had started, I had the opportunity to sit down with some of the early pioneers of engineering software. I worked along side incredibly talented students from other universities to help setup the event, had great fun and made friendships along the way. The conversations and connections I made were of relevance not only to my academic research, but to my professional development as well.
I eagerly await the next COFES conference, and hope to see you there.
Sincerely,
Davis M. Marques
Graduate Student
Simon Fraser University
COFES Intern 2007